New Ransomware NotPetya: More Dangerous and Advanced than WannaCry

Akins IT • June 28, 2017

he long and the short of it- PATCH YOUR COMPUTERS! Hopefully most of you did this after reading about the WannaCry virus and that it penetrated the network through unpatched computers. But if not, please do so immediately! This virus- NotPetya- is also scanning for unpatched computers.

“It only takes one unpatched computer to get inside the network, and the malware can get administrator rights and spread to other computers.” –Robert Lipovsky, ESET Researcher.

As you've likely heard, the next big malware is out and spreading. It seems that the malware is a version of Petya, although it also appears to have some significant differences or advancements... so much so that it looks like an almost entirely new form of ransomware. For that reason, this new malware is being referenced as “NotPetya.” The last big ransomware hit the world saw was with WannaCry, which exploited a leacked NSA hack called Eternal Blue and infected hundreds of thousands of computers and networks. NotPetya works in a similar way although it only scans computers on local networks rather than the entire Internet.

Not Petya has some features that make it even more dangerous than WannaCry. It has the ability to detect passwords on the infected computer and can move to other systems by pulling passwords from memory or the local filesystem. The virus then spreads the infection by “executing malicious code on other computers on the network.” For example, if the infected computer has admin access, every other computer on the network will become infected.

Because the virus is so new, there is still a lot of investigation being done. However, a Microsoft spokesperson has already said that initial investigations found that this ransomware uses multiple techniques to spread including one addressed by a previous security patch provided for all platforms from Windows XP to Windows 10. It can also spread by email so everyone should be careful when opening unfamiliar files.

Give us a call if you'd like to discuss how to make your network more secure!

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AWS stumbled this morning. Here’s why multi‑cloud keeps you moving.

By Shawn Akins • October 20, 2025

October 20, 2025 — Early today, Amazon Web Services experienced a major incident centered in its US‑EAST‑1 (N. Virginia) region. AWS reports the event began around 12:11 a.m. PT and tied back to DNS resolution affecting DynamoDB , with mitigation within a couple of hours and recovery continuing thereafter. As the outage rippled, popular services like Snapchat, Venmo, Ring, Roblox, Fortnite , and even some Amazon properties saw disruptions before recovering. If your apps or data are anchored to a single cloud, a morning like this can turn into a help‑desk fire drill. A multi‑cloud or cloud‑smart approach helps you ride through these moments with minimal end‑user impact. What happened (and why it matters) Single‑region fragility: US‑EAST‑1 is massive—and when it sneezes, the internet catches a cold. Incidents here have a history of wide blast radius. Shared dependencies: DNS issues to core services (like DynamoDB endpoints) can cascade across workloads that never directly “touch” that service. Multi‑cloud: practical resilience, not buzzwords For mid‑sized orgs, schools, and local government, multi‑cloud doesn’t have to mean “every app in every cloud.” It means thoughtful redundancy where it counts : Multi‑region or multi‑provider failover for critical apps Run active/standby across AWS and Azure (or another provider), or at least across two AWS regions with automated failover. Start with citizen‑facing portals, SIS/LMS access, emergency comms, and payment gateways. Portable platforms Use Kubernetes and containers, keep state externalized, and standardize infra with Terraform/Ansible so you can redeploy fast when a region (or a provider) wobbles. (Today’s DNS hiccup is exactly the kind of scenario this protects against.) Resilient data layers Replicate data asynchronously across clouds/regions; choose databases with cross‑region failover and test RPO/RTO quarterly. If you rely on a managed database tied to one region, design an escape hatch. Traffic and identity that float Use global traffic managers/DNS to shift users automatically; keep identity (MFA/SSO) highly available and not hard‑wired to a single provider’s control plane. Run the playbook Document health checks, automated cutover, and comms templates. Then practice —tabletops and live failovers. Many services today recovered within hours, but only teams with rehearsed playbooks avoided user‑visible downtime. The bottom line Cloud concentration risk is real. Outages will happen—what matters is whether your constituents, students, and staff feel it. A pragmatic multi‑cloud stance limits the blast radius and keeps your mission‑critical services online when one provider has a bad day. Need a resilience check? Akins IT can help you prioritize which systems should be multi‑cloud, design the right level of redundancy, and validate your failover plan—without overspending. Let’s start with a quick, 30‑minute review of your most critical services and RPO/RTO targets. (No slideware, just actionable next steps.)